Best VPN service: Is ExpressVPN, Nord or SurfShark the best VPN in August 2022?

Hunting for the best VPN money can buy? That’s truly no easy task as there are a mind-boggling number of Virtual Private Networks – or VPNs – available to download.

The reason for the dizzying number of options is simple – VPNs are phenomenal and a must-have app on your smartphone, laptop, streaming set-top box, or tablet. That’s because VPNs unlock a number of incredibly useful features, from keeping your web browsing history private to enabling you to stream TV shows, films and sports that aren’t available to watch in your current location due to geo restrictions. A good VPN will also ensure that any data entered into websites is completely safe from prying eyes.

Ticking all of these boxes (and many, many more) is NordVPN.

That’s why we’ve crowned it the best VPN in August 2022. It strikes a brilliant balance between advanced features – like Dark Web monitoring, split-tunnelling, a built-in password manager, and its new Meshnet feature that lets you create your own VPN server worldwide with any gadgets in your collection – and an incredibly easy-to-use app for VPN newcomers.

NordVPN boasts apps for every platform, including iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows, macOS, and Fire TV for streaming fans. It has server locations across the globe, so you’ll be able to stream TV shows, films, and live sports fixtures from anywhere on the planet with a few taps. Download speeds are only reduced by a marginal amount, so you won’t need to worry about endless buffering before sinking your teeth into the latest boxset binge on Netflix US.

Unlike some of the closest competition, NordVPN prices start from under £3 and it boasts a quibble-free 30 days money-back guarantee, so signing up is risk-free! In fact, it’s almost a free trial. There’s also support for Apple Pay and Google Pay at checkout, which means you can sign-up with a couple of taps and not hand over any card details. NordVPN doesn’t store any data on its subscribers because it’s located in a nation without data retention laws, so your web browsing habits will remain completely private …unlike going online without a VPN!

Our complete ranking of the best VPN services in August 2022 is as follows…

1. NordVPN 
2. ExpressVPN 
3. SurfShark VPN 
4. CyberGhost VPN 
5. PIA VPN 
6. ProtonVPN 

Scroll down if you’d like more information on any of the Virtual Private Networks included in this guide, as well as some answers to the most commonly asked questions around VPNs. Whether you’re a veteran VPN user or a newcomer looking to boost security on their devices or stream Netflix US, there should be something for everyone in this VPN guide.

Virtual Private Networks – more commonly referred to as VPNs – generate an encrypted tunnel that shields all of your internet traffic. If you’re using a public Wi-Fi network, like those in coffee shops, stadiums, and airports, a VPN will prevent bad actors from intercepting any of your sensitive data.

This encrypted tunnel also shields your online data from prying eyes, blocking your home broadband provider, governments, and advertisers from keeping tabs on your online activity!

Since all of your online traffic is being funnelled through this secure connection, it can be routed via servers across the globe. This changed your IP address and makes it appear as if you’re located in another country. If you’re looking to access online services (like Twitter, Google, and Facebook) that are banned in your current location, switching to a server in the UK or United States will unlock these sites.

Streaming fans will be able to browse and stream from catalogues in a wide variety of different nations. Netflix offers a different selection of TV shows and movies in each country, with some subscribers enjoying a much, much bigger selection of boxsets for the same monthly fee. With a VPN, and a provider with a healthy number of server locations, you can unlock all of these to stream to your iPhone, Android, or on the big screen using a Fire TV Stick, for example.

Think of a VPN as a supercharged version of the Incognito Mode found in the Google Chrome web browser. It boasts privacy, keeps you safe from attacks on public Wi-Fi networks (likely the reason any work laptops you’ve owned all required a VPN before you work from outside of the office), and lets you stream TV shows from anywhere on the planet.

Finally, VPNs are crucial to keep your internet history safe from governments too, with these apps used by whistleblowers and sources helping journalists uncover wrongdoing.

It’s true that, once upon a time, VPNs were pretty niche and were only used by enterprise users. But the explosion in streaming services, such as Netflix, Disney+, Paramount+, and HBO Max, has catapulted VPNs into the mainstream.

While encryption is an essential aspect of a Virtual Private Network (and the reason that your workplace likely requires you to turn on a VPN before working from home), it’s the ability to manually change your IP addresses using the hundreds of server locations around the world that makes these apps so exciting.

For those who don’t know, an IP address is assigned to your device whenever you connect to the internet and contains information on your location. It’s the reason you’re able to see your current address on Google Maps or the way that retailers enable features like Find Your Nearest Store on their websites.

Some of the most popular streaming services place geographic restrictions on their content, usually due to different licensing agreements in each country. For example, while Tina Fey’s seminal sit-com 30 Rock is available to watch in its entirety on Netflix in the United States …however, the show is only available via Sky Comedy in the UK due to different licensing agreements agreed upon by the broadcasters. Likewise, Supernatural – a hit horror-drama from The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke – is available to stream in its entirety on Netflix US, but isn’t available to stream anywhere in the UK. Instead, you’ll need to buy individual episodes from digital stores like iTunes or Prime Video.

It’s well known that UK subscribers have access to a smaller catalogue of shows, documentaries and movies than their US counterparts, despite paying the same monthly fee. And some streaming services, like HBO Max, Hulu, and more, are not available to access in the UK.

With so many choices, and so many companies promising everything you could ever want …it can be really tough to find the best VPN for you. However, there are a few very important factors that you should always keep in mind before picking a Virtual Private Network. If you’re new to VPNs, this list might help you to choose the best subscription for your needs.

• Cost: How much do you want to spend on a VPN each month? Thankfully, most VPN services offer a very generous money-back guarantee within the first 30 to 45 days, so you’ll be able to commit to a longer contract (these offer the lowest monthly costs) safe in the knowledge that you can get a full refund if you’re unhappy with the service at any point within the first month or so.

• Free: While picking a free VPN might be incredibly tempting – especially if you’re new to VPNs – it’s worth remembering that none of these no-cost services offer the same features as the paid-for options. All free VPN providers will hold back a few features or limit the amount of bandwidth that you’re able to use to push you to upgrade to their paid plans. As such, the money-back guarantees available with paid plans might be a better options, as your download speeds and bandwidth won’t be restricted, and you’ll be able to access premium features like split-tunnelling, password managers, multi-hop and much, much more.

• Devices: If you’re planning to use your new VPN on a very specific device, it’s worth checking the VPN has a compatible app. While some devices, like iPhone, iPad, Android and Fire TV, all offer native VPN support within the operating system, there are other popular gadgets – like Roku streaming dongles – that will need a workaround.

• Privacy: It might sound unimportant, but it’s crucial to check where your new VPN provider has built its headquarters. That’s because different countries require different amounts of data collection on customers (so that companies can share identifying data with authorities) but there is a handful with no data collection laws. This is the best option if you’re signing up for a VPN as a privacy boost.

NordVPN has been crowned as our best VPN service in 2022. There are a number of reasons for this, including its stellar apps for iOS, Android, Windows and Amazon Fire TV Stick, as well as its affordable prices. Find our complete breakdown of why NordVPN is our favourite VPN provider on the market below…

NordVPN is a stellar VPN service that boasts the best mobile apps of any VPNs on this list. Available on iOS and Android, the mobile app makes it ludicrously easy for newcomers to get connected for the first time. If you’re a little unsure about VPNs, NordVPN makes it ludicrously simple to find a server from around the world and change your location. Your frequently-visited countries will always appear at the top of the app – so it’s simple to jump back into your favourite series on US-only Netflix, for example.

And it’s not just iPhone and Android, either. NordVPN allows subscribers to connect a generous 6 different devices at the same time. That’s especially handy since NordVPN has apps for almost every device you could think of, including smartphones, to tablets, games consoles, Chromebooks, Fire TV Stick dongles, Windows and Mac.

You can even install NordVPN directly on your Wi-Fi router, so that every device that connects to your home Wi-Fi network will be automatically routed via the VPN and shielded by encryption, or (if you want) re-routed via a different country to appear as if you’re abroad. Handy!

ExpressVPN is a brilliant VPN provider that could’ve easily pipped NordVPN to our Gold Medal position. In fact, we’re so impressed with this popular VPN that it scored a full five stars in our ExpressVPN review. 

With the same 24/7 customer support and 30-day money-back guarantee as our top pick, ExpressVPN is rightly just as confident about its product as NordVPN.

Of course, that’s hardly surprising – in our testing, ExpressVPN performed amazingly with only a marginal impact on download speeds. On top of that, ExpressVPN works hard to ensure that it has a steady stream of new servers coming online to escape Netflix’s recent crackdown on VPNs. So while some providers struggle to unlock the full catalogue available in the United States, ExpressVPN never runs into an issue. That’s the reason that ExpressVPN was named our best VPN for streaming.

The one advantage of picking Surfshark VPN over any of the other services in this list is the ability to login with an unlimited number of devices. That’s not something we’re used to seeing from VPN providers and means you’ll be able to login from any number of gadgets that you want – from anywhere in the world. That’s what really sets Surfshark apart from almost every other VPN in this article and is a huge advantage for those who aren’t confident enough to install a VPN onto their router (both NordVPN and Express VPN offer software for the router, which ensures that all devices that connect via your home Wi-Fi network are protected by the VPN – bypassing the device limit).

If you’re still a little uncertain about how a Virtual Private Network is going to fit into your (digital) life, it might be worth taking a look at CyberGhost. This well-respected provider has hands-down the best money-back guarantee policy of any VPN on this list. While our top pick NordVPN (and most of its competitors) offer a 30-day money-back guarantee for those who don’t get on with its product, CyberGhost extends this to a whopping 45-days.

Private Internet Access VPN might not have the snappiest name, but it does have some very exciting features at a low cost. Like the other VPN providers in this article, Private Internet Access (PIA) offers a 30-day money-back guarantee and 24/7 access to customer service if you need to take them up on that offer. That means you should feel confident signing up for a longer contract …handy, as that’s the best way to secure the biggest discounts from PIA.

PIA never keeps any usage logs – it doesn’t store any details on its customers. That’s important as one of the key reasons to install a Virtual Private Network onto your machine is to protect your privacy. Unlike a number of the other providers in this list, PIA is headquartered in a country where law enforcement can request access to data logs.

Unlike the other VPNs we’ve covered so far in this article, ProtonVPN boasts an entirely free subscription. If you’re unsure about how a Virtual Private Network will work for you, this is a great way to dip your toe into the water. While there are a number of free VPNs available, as you might expect, these usually arrive with a long, long list of limitations in a bid to push people to the paid subscription tiers (for example, companies will restrict the amount of data that can be accessed via the VPN, limits to the number of devices that can be signed-in with your account, a limited number of servers available… the list goes on and on) but ProtonVPN is a rare exception.

Of course, there are limitations on the free account, but these are manageable.

Given that one of the main selling points of connecting to the web with a VPN is that it shields your activity from outside eyes, it’s important to question the security of the Virtual Private Network provider. Our top pick – NordVPN – is incredibly safe to use. It doesn’t record any data from your activity, which includes connection timestamps, the amount of bandwidth used during your most recent session, or the IP addresses used to connect.

As mentioned above, NordVPN limits the number of devices that subscribers can connect to at any one time. Of course, in order to determine how many devices you’re using at any one time, NordVPN has to collect some data when you connect. According to the firm, “an algorithm keeps their username and the timestamp of the last session status while the session is active. This data is wiped within 15 minutes after the session is terminated”.

If that makes you a little nervous, NordVPN has proven how committed it is to security by basing the company in the British Virgin Islands. That location isn’t a coincidence, the British Virgin Islands have no data retention laws, so it’s not legally required to collect information about its customers and their habits.

It’s worth remembering that without a Virtual Private Network, your Internet Service Provider (ISP) can see everything you do online – every website, the amount of time spent on each site, and the frequency that you head online. So, even with the small amount of data collected to ensure that you’re not signed into too many devices, you’re still much safer online with a VPN installed.

If you’re looking to save plenty of cash on your monthly subscription, you’ll want to take advantage of one of the best VPN deals around. These impressive price drops can save hundreds on the cost of a Virtual Private Network. While many of the top-rated VPNs in this article regularly run promotions and discounts on their subscriptions, there are a number of other VPN services that also offer huge savings. We’ve rounded up some of the best discounts and deals available below…

Yes, most likely. Encrypting all of your internet traffic adds an extra step in the process, which impacts the amount of time that passes between clicking a button in your web browser and your request being received by the website itself. On top of this, the further that your data has to travel, the slower the connection will be. If everything you’re doing online is being routed via Missouri in the United States, that’s going to slow things down even further.

One of the biggest differentiators between VPNs is how much they alter your internet speed. In our testing, NordVPN and ExpressVPN provided the fastest connections, with SurfShark – which, admittedly, has both of the two others in this list beaten when it comes to pricing – resulting in slightly slower connections.

Most VPNs will allow you to customise which apps use their services when connecting online. For example, you might want your social media accounts to connect to the internet without a VPN. After all, this means you’ll be able to refresh your social feed much faster and can easily tag yourself in specific locations. However, you might want all of your video streaming services, like Prime Video and Netflix, to default to the VPN.

NordVPN, ExpressVPN and SurfShark VPN all offer a 30-day money-back guarantee, so if there are any issues with the VPN within the first month, you’ll be able to get a refund. While that’s not quite a free trial, it does mean you should feel peace of mind when signing up to a longer contract, like a one-year or two-year plan. That’s good because it’s only when agreeing to these longer contracts that you’ll unlock the biggest discounts available. You can save up to 80 percent compared to a monthly rolling contract.

NordVPN, ExpressVPN and SurfShark VPN all offer 24/7 customer service too, so no matter where you’re located in the world, you’ll be able to get hold of someone to help fix your issue. Sure, it’s not quite as good as a week of free access to the VPN, but it’s a good compromise that should ensure you feel confident at checkout.

CyberGhost VPN does offer a free trial for seven days. It’s available on desktop and mobile, including the iOS and Android app. Unlike some providers, including Proton VPN, which offer a free subscription tier, CyberGhost VPN includes everything that you’d get with a paid subscription. With no limitations, that means you’ll be able to enjoy the same experience as paid subscribers. It means you’ll be able to really test how a Virtual Private Network fits with your devices and habits.

Split-Tunnelling is an advanced feature built into most top-tier VPNs that allow you to pick and choose which websites and streaming apps are re-routed via the encrypted Virtual Private Network. This is especially useful if you want to leverage the VPN to manually change your IP address.

For example, while you might want to change the IP address for some streaming services – like Netflix, which offers different catalogues of boxsets and movies in different countries – there could be others that don’t play nice with the new location – BBC iPlayer doesn’t work when you’re outside of the UK. Split-Tunnelling allows you to do exactly that.

Our top pick, NordVPN, supports Split-Tunnelling in a number of its most popular apps, including iPhone, Android and Fire TV Stick. However, all of the other VPN providers in this article also support the feature.

We’ve been testing VPNs for a little while now, and our top pick in 2021 was the brilliant NordVPN (that’s the same VPN service we’re recommending in 2022).

If you’re new to Virtual Private Networks, NordVPN is a brilliant starting point, with its gorgeous mobile apps for Android, iOS, Mac, Windows, iPadOS, Amazon Fire TV, and more. Encrypting all of the data transmitted over your Wi-Fi connection takes a single tap and you’ll be able to quickly change your location to anywhere on the map, thanks to the 5,000 available servers worldwide. NordVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee if you’re not completely satisfied and there is a team of customer service representatives available 24-hours a day to help you out with any issues that crop up.

NordVPN also offers a great balance between low monthly prices, a brilliant service, and feature-packed software. While it’s not the cheapest on the market, it’s more affordable than its nearest rival: ExpressVPN. And you’ll also benefit from split-tunnelling (so you can set a location for some applications, like Netflix, while keeping another IP address for others, like Google Maps, where it makes sense to remain in your current location), fast video streaming speeds, and built-in malware protection to shield you from computer viruses.

There are a number of free VPNs out there, which offer many of the best features of a Virtual Private Network without costing you a penny. We’ve rounded up the best picks in our best free VPNs guide. However, it’s worth noting that many of these free VPNs restrict functionality to prompt users to upgrade to the paid plans.

As such, you might struggle with these free services – leaving you unable to watch your favourite show due to the limited bandwidth, or be unable to watch unblocked Netflix due to the limited locations available when manually changing your IP address. Since a number of the most popular VPNs offer a 30-day money-back guarantee (and 24/7 customer service to help refund you), then there’s no risk signing up for a paid plan with the complete suite of features. Find the latest VPN prices below…